148214: Ruling on being hired to transport the coffin of a kaafir to the church and the graveyard

I am a young man from Spain. A company has called me to work for them, and the work involves transporting the deceased from the hospital (i.e., from the mortuary) to the church, then to the graveyard. I only work in transporting them from one place to another; I do not handle the deceased in any way. Is this halaal or haraam?.

Praise be to Allaah.

It is not permissible to transport deceased kaafirs to the
church, just as it is not permissible to transport their living ones to
the church either, because that is helping them in disobedience. The
church is the place of falsehood and associating others with Allah, may He
be exalted, and if the deceased is taken there, some rituals of kufr will
be performed over him that are based on deifying and worshipping ‘Eesa
(peace be upon him). Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the
meaning):

“Help you one another in Al‑Birr and At‑Taqwa (virtue,
righteousness and piety); but do not help one another in sin and
transgression. And fear Allaah. Verily, Allaah is Severe in punishment”

[al-Maa’idah 5:2].

In al-Mudawwanah (4/150) it says: Maalik said: He
should not rent or sell his house to someone who will take it as a church,
and he should not rent his mount to someone who will ride it to the church.
End quote.

With regard to carrying or transporting the kaafir to the
graveyard, there is a difference of opinion among the fuqaha’. The Hanafis
regard it as permissible to be employed in doing that.

It says in Badaa’i‘ al-Sanaa’i‘ (4/190): It is
permissible to be employed to transport the deceased kaafir to the
graveyard, because it is a dead body and its harm should be removed from the
people like all other impure things.

But it is not permissible, in their view, to transport it
from one land to another, because the basic principle is that it is not
permissible to transport corpses; rather a concession is granted allowing
moving them because it is a case of necessity and it is essential to remove
their harm, but it is not essential to move them from one land to another,
so the basic principle that it is haraam remains in effect. See: al-Bahr
al-Raa’iq, 8/23

The Hanbalis are of the view that it is haraam to carry the
bier of a kaafir.

It says in al-Rawd al-Marba‘ ma‘a Haashiyatihi (3/34):
It is haraam for a Muslim to wash a kaafir, and to carry him, shroud him or
follow his bier, just as it is also haraam to offer the funeral prayer for
him, because Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Take not as friends the people who incurred the Wrath of
Allaah”

[al-Mumtahanah 60:13].

Ibn Qaasim said in his commentary on that: The general
meaning of the verse indicates that it is haraam to carry the bier of a
kaafir, or to shroud him, or to follow his bier, just as it is also haraam
to offer the funeral prayer for him. End quote.

It should be noted that there are many ways of earning a
living and that if a person gives up something for the sake of Allah, Allah
will compensate him with something better than it. So look for permissible
work and you will find it, in sha Allah.

May Allah help us and you to do that which He loves and which
pleases Him.